Grand Prix of Long Beach

LONG BEACH >> Drivers don’t usually root for other drivers to make mistakes. However, had Ryan Hunter-Reay not pulled what he did Sunday at the 40th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Mike Conway almost assuredly would not have crossed the finish line first.

But Hunter-Reay did try what seemed an ill-advised inside pass attempt on leader Josef Newgarden on Turn 4 on Lap 56 of 80, causing a five-car pileup that nearly blocked the track completely. Conway and Will Power were two of those who sneaked through the rubble and Conway eventually ended up winning the race just 0.9 seconds ahead of Power.

Rookie Carlos Munoz of Colombia was third.

Approximately 180,000 took in the event over three days of racing.

This is the second time Conway, of England, has won here. He won in 2011, less than a year after he survived a horrifying crash at the Indianapolis 500.

“It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure,” said Conway, who won after starting well back in the pack. “Starting back at 17th, we really had to fight for every position.”

There were a total of four yellow cautions. The third was the multi-car crash took that out Newgarden, Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, James Hinchcliffe and defending Long Beach champion Takuma Sato. Two others - Helio Castroneves and rookie Jack Hawksworth, slightly got into that crash, but not enough to end their day.

The fourth caution began on Lap 68. When the green flag came back out on Lap 70, Conway - then second - overtook third-place Power. Three-time series champion Scott Dixon was leading at that point, but he was about to run out of gas and instead of doing that he pitted with two laps remaining. All Conway had to do then was stave off Power, and to a lesser degree, Munoz.

“I knew on that last re-start, I had to get by Will,” Conway said. “He had one push-to-pass left and I knew Munoz was behind me in fourth and Munoz was very good all day, so it was going to be hard to keep him behind.”

Conway toiled for Dale Coyne Racing in 2013, but is with Ed Carpenter Racing this year. Carpenter made the deal that he would race the ovals and Conway would do the street and road courses. Conway has admitted in the past he has a bit too much fear on the ovals now because of his crash at The Brickyard. One might say he owes Carpenter a lot.

“Big thanks to Ed for making that happen,” Conway said.

The consensus feeling among the many reporters covering the event was that Hunter-Reay was not in position to pass Newgarden. Power, who won here in 2012, was not shy about being thankful for the wreck; keep in mind that the only injury reported was a sprained thumb by Hinchcliffe.

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“It was like unbelievable,” said Power, of Australia. “I saw Hunter-Reay go inside Newgarden and thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be interesting on the turn,’ and there they go together. And then Hinch plows into him and then I got through and yeah, you don’t get those gifts often in racing. I’ll take it.”

Conway said a radio call to him warned him of the crash and that he should stay to the right upon approaching it.

“It was unlucky for those guys, and very fortunate for us,” he said.

Hunter-Reay and Hinchcliffe both compete for Andretti Autosport. As does Munoz.

“It’s not the way I would like to win third place with so many accidents, but this is racing and everything can happen, especially on this track,” said Munoz, who won here last year in Indy Lights. “I’m really happy. It was a really nice race.”

Dixon ended up finishing 12th, which has to hurt after being so painfully close to winning.

“It was a tough situation for the Target team to be in there leading at the end and not make it,” he said. “We ended up being about a half a lap short on fuel and didn’t get a break with the yellow flag. We could have stayed out and tried it, but then we would have risked running out of fuel and wrecking the field.”

As for the big wreck, it created drama between teammates Hunter-Reay and Hinchcliffe, who was running third behind Hunter-Reay at the time. While Hunter-Reay admitted he could have been a bit more patient, and that perhaps he was at fault for the incident, he also said that Newgarden had some wheel spin and that he had a good half-car length alongside Newgarden when he made the move.

“When a racing driver is in the moment and he has a chance to go for it, I went for it because I want to win,” Hunter-Reay said.

Hinchcliffe did not mince words. He accused Hunter-Reay of not having any patience, then hammered him by saying, “It was a rookie mistake.”

Hunter-Reay, 33, is anything but a rookie. He won the series championship in 2012.

Newgarden wasn’t thrilled with Hunter-Reay, either.

“You just can’t pass in (Turn) 4 no matter what,” he said. “It’s never happened before. It just doesn’t work.”

Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia was fourth, Simon Pagenaud of France was fifth, rookie Mikhail Aleshin of Russia took sixth, Oriol Servia of Spain was seventh, American Marco Andretti finished eighth, Sebastian Saavedra of Colombia was ninth and Carlos Huertas of Colombia 10th.

Other notable drivers included Helio Castroneves of Brazil taking 11th, American Graham Rahal was 13th and Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais 14th.